On Happy Endings
by Chloe the Disturbed
Summary: Lily and James are having problems in their seventh year, and it looks like they're never going to get together. Sirius & Remus try to fix things... Dumbledore is young and rather spiffy... R/R pwease!
1. The Stone-Throwing Game

*Disclaimer- ANY CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT FOUND IN THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS ARE MINE, AND THERE ARE FEW WHICH ARE. THE REST BELONG TO THE FAIR QUEEN OF FICTION, MRS. JK ROWLING. YOU MAY ALL PROCEED....  
  
It was her seventh year at Hogwarts. Lily Evans kneeled on the grass, tossing pebbles into the lake. Her emerald green eyes were brimming with tears and her chin trembled. "Dumb old Potter. Dosent he know when to stop?" She attepted to toss another stone into the lake but her eyes were so blurry that she hit a stone and not the water. Who cares? It was a dumb game anyway. Dumb game. Dumb Potter. Everything in her life had been going fine that first year at Hogwarts, then HE had to come along, with his sweet smile and his jokes and hid untidy black hair. She hated him.  
  
"Lil! Lil..." James ran up to where she was sitting. He was out of breath with panting, and tiny beads of sweat were on his forehead. "You're a pretty fast runner, y'know that?" His bottom lip curled itself into a half -smile.  
  
"Go away Potter."  
  
"Lil, let me explain. Just let me-"  
  
"You don't have to explain anything. I saw the whole thing." She sniffled.  
  
"Lily, Madge was just-"  
  
"Wiping some crumbs off your lips? How courteous of her."  
  
"Lily, you have to believe me. I didn't want for it to happen. Madge wanted me back, but that's not how I felt at all. Honest, Lily."  
  
"Potter, you want to hear a story?" She interrupted before he could answer, "Here's a story. It's about a girl who liked a boy." She threw a stone into the lake, a perfect bull 's eye. "The guy seemed to like the girl, too." She threw another stone into the water, this time her aim was weaker. Tears rolled onto her cheeks. "Then one day, the girl caught the boy kissing his ex-girlfriend. You can stop me if this sounds familiar."  
  
She lowered her hand and wiped the ongoing tears on the sleeve of her robe.  
  
"Lil." James came up to her, his hand touching her shoulder lightly, which immediately sent her to a howl.  
  
"DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!" She yelled, her green eyes bleary and red.  
  
She ran away in tears.  
  
James watched her leave with a heavy heart. Oh, no. What had he done? 


	2. A Week Later

A week later....  
  
"Lily, come on. You can't hole yourself up in here forever," Lily's friend Morgan said worriedly, looking down at the pathetic figure with rumpled red hair that, at some point, used to be her dynamic, kind-hearted best friend.  
  
It had been a week and Lily had avoided eating with Morgan, Sirius, Remus, Peter and James, their ususal group.  
  
  
  
"Oh yeah, well I can sure as hell try." Lily's fragile face looked broken inside. Her nose was red and her eyes were unaccustomed to the light.  
  
"Lil."  
  
"Don't call me that. He used to call me that."  
  
"All right, I'm not saying anything. But promise me you'll make SOME kind of entrance at dinner tonight. We're all worried about you. Sirius has evben said that he's going crazy with worry about you and James."  
  
Lily tensed at the word 'James'.  
  
"Can you imagine that? Sirius, being serious. What a hoot."  
  
"It must be a new experience for him."  
  
"Come on, Lily. Promise me you'll come down to dinner. Do it for a friend."  
  
"I make no garuntees."  
  
Morgan kissed Lily on the cheek. "Feel better." Lily's mother would say and do the exact same thing.  
  
Lily didn't respond.  
  
"Be there at dinner, okay?" Morgan said before she closed the door behind her.  
  
Lily sat up and fished a pad out from under her pillow. She had been writing a curse to cast on James.  
  
Till three turns the clock doth strike  
  
Make him feel the pain I feel  
  
Curse him and his mortal life  
  
Till he no longer seems real.  
  
Tricklesmithle, Lithelbane  
  
Let no happy feelings remain  
  
In the heart and mind of James  
  
Cause men are basically all the same.  
  
It sounded more like a complaint or a holiday wish list than a curse. Lily crumpled the piece of paper into a little ball and threw it into the far corner of the room. "I hate you, James Henry Potter," She whispered, making two fists.  
  
Which is when she got a bright idea. 


	3. The Taste of Revenge

"How goes it, Romeo?" Sirius asked James during dinnertime in the Great Hall. He helped himself to some extra potatoes.  
  
"Well, she hates me." James said, sighing and hanging his head. "Which is actually better than two days ago, when she loathed and despised the very ground I walked on." James had been morphing into Prongs every evening to check up on Lily, He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but every time he heard hateful things about him coming from Lily's rosy mouth, he felt his heart shattering like glass. He took a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and gave it to Sirius. "Take a look at this. It's an endearing little love poem she wrote for me."  
  
As Sirius read the letter, his browns furrowed with amusement. "Whoa, she really wanted to to a number on you... this is pretty angsty stuff."  
  
"Gee, that makes me feel all the more better."  
  
"Aw, cheer up old boy. She'll realize it was all a misunderstanding sooner or later," Sirius' nose wrinkled. "I never liked Madge anyway. Too domineering. She tried too hard to get you back, too. She was coming on to you like a Bludger at a Quidditch game."  
  
"Padfoot, shut up."  
  
Padfoot shut up. But only for the first five minutes. All of a sudden his eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. "James - look."  
  
James felt his heart bounce straight out of his chest. It was Lily. But it wasn't the same Lily that he had seen fifteen minutes ago. It was a different Lily. She was a little frail, perhaps from malnourishment, but for some reason, she looked prettier than ever, There was a smile on her face, and her haor was neatly combed and pulled back from her face. Botticelli's Venus had nothing on her.  
  
She was coming their way.  
  
Sirius quickly pulled out an empty chair for her, which was right next to James.  
  
Lily laughed a tinny little laugh. "Oh, no thanks Sirius. She avoided James' wide-eyed stare. "I'm going to sit next to Morgan."  
  
Morgans, whose eyes were also wide with shock, couldn't stop staring at Lily. "Okay. Who are you and what have you done with my friend?"  
  
Lily laughed again. "Absolutley nothing. Hey, you were the one who wanted me to come down to dinner."  
  
James realized that something wasn't right. The way she moved, that laugh... it was all too practiced; too calculated. He then knew what was going on. She came down here to make him suffer. James felt pain at the very thought of it. His Lily. How long had they been friends? Six years. There had, of course, been intimate moments between them, but Lily had started flirting with James near the end of their six year. He had at first been shocked and a bit scared. But the he started to have dreams about her. He finally realized that he liked her. Lily and James had danced around the subject of dating, but had never asked each other. His Lily. She would do anything to ruin him now. 


	4. Punch, Anyone? *longer chapter!*

*A/N: Thanks so much everyone who reviewed, you people are really great and I'm glad you like my story. Thanks for the suggestions, I will write longer chapters on this story from now on…. (  
  
  
  
Here she was, laughing at every joke Sirius made, making small talk with Remus and Peter, and chatting incessantly with Morgan. "Mmm, this cream soup tastes like heaven," Lily said, her eyes flicking over to Lucius Malfoy, who was staring back.  
  
James felt irritated. Had the whole SCHOOL seen Lily walk in? He felt like he wanted to wrap her around her up and away from public view. And what was Scum Brain Malfoy staring so hard at?  
  
"These avocados taste so good...." Lily looked at Malfoy again.  
  
James drummed his fingers on the tabletop. Hard.  
  
Lily saw that she was doing to him and smiled inwardly. Good, I made him jealous. Serves him right, the louse. Then, something inside of her crumpled in pain. What am I doing? Lucius is nothing to me. James is everything.... Shut up! the aggressive voice responded. Concentrate on the task at hand, Lily.  
  
She had Lucius eating out of the palm of her hand. He was hers. Lily had known that Lucius liked her but had never cared before. But James hated Lucius, and that was all that mattered.  
  
After dinner, Lily caught up with Lucius and his two clueless compadres, Crabbe and Goyle. "Hi Lucius."  
  
"Hello Evans." Malfoy tried to sound mean, but it just didn't work- not with Lily looking at him like that. Her eyes were as shiny as a cat's, sparkling his House color right at him.  
  
"How've you been?" Lily asked, fingering her collarbone.  
  
Lucius stared. Crabbe and Goyle looked awkwardly from Lily to Malfoy, not sure what to do.  
  
All of a sudden, a fist came flying from out of nowhere and punched Lucius' lights out.  
  
A scream tore from Lily's throat, a scream that was heard all throughout the Great Hall. Lucius was on the floor looking paler than ever, his nose bloody and black and blue. A crowd gathered around Lily, James, Lucius and Crabbe and Goyle. Professor McGonnagall pushed herself through the crowds and yelled, "What in abomination is going on here?"  
  
"It was Potter that did it," Crabbe said stupidly. "I saws him with me own eyes."  
  
"Yeah," Goyle agreed. "All Potter's fault…. is that a treacle tart?" He went over to embrace his one true love- Chocolate Fudge Pecan.  
  
"Potter, what on earth were you thinking, doing such a thing to a fellow student ?" McGonnagall eyes were as big as saucers under the square-rim spectacles.  
  
James just stared at her. He himself was not sure how it had happened.  
  
"You won't answer me? Very well then, eight points from Gryffindor, for unexplained foolishness! And all this from the Head Boy, to say the least!"  
  
"Sixteen points, Minerva," Professor Ankhorn, the nasty Head of Slytherin House said silkily. "Malfoy looks like he has a concussion."  
  
McGonnagall nodded briskly, as if she didn't mind taking points away from her own House. "Eighteen points from Gryffindor."  
  
Sirius, Remus, Peter, Morgan, and the rest of the Gryffindors groaned.  
  
McGonnagall shook her head angrily. "A week's detention, Potter!"  
  
"Minerva, please." Albus Dumbledore had elbowed his way through the crowds and was now standing at James' side." Let me have a talk with the boy."  
  
"As you wish, Headmaster."  
  
James immediately felt two feelings- relief and fear. Relief that Dumbledore was here, and fear that he might get expelled. Two years ago, when James and the other Marauders had set stink bombs around the whole school and they had been found out, they were sent to Dumbledore's office and told that one more shenanigan like that and they would be expelled from Hogwarts. Of course James' parents and Grandma Ruth would hate that, so James had to conduct his mischief in absolute secret, at the most unexpected times so that nobody would know it was him. James needed to be mischievous- it was another way of breathing to him. But when Lily was with him, James had started to feel like he didn't need to be a troublemaker to enjoy life. Without realizing it, she had made him calmer and more sedate. Now, both relief and fear were dancing across his head as he followed Dumbledore to his office. He had been there so many times that he could point out the description of each portrait on the wall with his eyes closed. But this time he wasn't going to play games.  
  
This was the real deal. 


	5. Love

*A/N: Once again, thanks so much everyone who reviewed! Thanks for the suggestions, but this is kind of a short story, so I can't write really long chapters. Unless I expand on the story. Do you want me to? (  
  
  
  
Dumbledore sat back in his chair and gazed at James with his piercing eyes. He looked pretty spiffy in his wizard robes, and a lot younger than he really was. But time's events would soon change that."Now that we have some privacy," he said, "Let us get down to the point. Am I under the impression, James, that you reacted toward Malfoy in this manner from, er, jealousy?"  
  
How did he know that? James flushed a brilliant red. "Yes, Professor, I had no idea what was happening until it was too late, It just… happened.  
  
Dumbledore nodded gently. His eyes were less merry before. "I see. Well, James it would be far better in the future if you keep your personal feelings at bay. Considering your past relationships with Slytherins, it deems more appropriate that way. Are we clear?"  
  
James exhaled a sigh of relief. So he wasn't going to get expelled. "Er, yes, Professor. Very clear."  
  
"Excellent. I'll lead you to Professor McGonnagall's office. As soon as Mister Malfoy is conscious, you are to apologize to him."  
  
* * *  
  
Lily now went to bed each night with mixed feelings. She was scared and shocked at what James had done. She was angry, too- what right did he have to do that? But then, she was also happy and extremely relieved. Her mind was a whirling kaleidoscope of emotions, all of them blurring into each other and forming one big, tight emotion as Lily slept. She couldn't quite figure out what the emotion was at first. One night she woke up and her eyes widened with discovery. The emotion was love.  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
Not only did James have to apologize to Malfoy as soon as Malfoy's eyes opened, he also had to bring Malfoy's school notes to him each afternoon for a week while Malfoy complained about the overwhelming pain in his nose, which had been soothed by Madam Pomfrey twenty minutes after Malfoy had been hit. There was no concussion, though James found himself bitterly wishing that there had been one.  
  
As for detention, James had to help Filch sweep the floors of Hogwarts at night. Filch yelled if there was a dusty spot within sight. The man had eyes like a hawk.  
  
It was the worst detention James had ever had. And not because he had to be pushed around by a maniacal neat freak with an intensely eerie love for a scuzzball cat. James had gotten detention with Sirius loads of times before, and been through worse scenarios than dusty floors. It was because, as he swept floor, he knew that Lily Evans was sleeping in Gryffindor Tower, hating him. And it wasn't even his fault.  
  
  
  
He sat on the steps leading to Gryffindor tower, crying. His work was done, and he should have gone up to sleep, but instead he decided that sleep was too much for. His throat was on fire, and he was all choked up. His cheeks were scarlet. That's it, he thought. It's time for drastic measures.  
  
Love can make people do crazy things. It controls people, blinds them so that their minds can't rationalize what their hearts and bodies are about to do. At that moment, James was struck by a need so intense that it literally made him stand up. Loneliness was controlling him. 


	6. The Two Kisses

*A/N: Once again, thanks so much everyone who reviewed! I'm sorry I haven't updated since May.. I've been a little busy what with moving and all.. anyway thanks for the suggestions, but this is kind of a short story, so I can't write really long chapters. Unless I expand on the story. Do you want me to? (  
  
He crept into the Gryffindor girls' dormitory as sure as the shadows. He'd been there before with Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Lily and him had had many a private chat on her four-poster, eating crackers and Penguin Peanut Butter and laughing so hard that they nearly choked on the food. No matter what, James always knew how to make Lily laugh. Now he knew how to make her cry : Get kissed accidentally by an ex girlfriend.  
  
In spite of himself, James couldn't help humming as he sneaked into Lily's room and into her four-poster. She seemed so peaceful as she slept. Her hair was in her eyes and her breathing was even. She looked twelve and not sixteen. James promptly stopped humming. What an angel, he thought, his heart welling in his chest. Finally, he bent down and his lips brushed her own in possibly the softest sneaky dorm-room kiss in all of Hogwarts history.  
  
When he pulled away, Lily murmured something.  
  
"I love you," James whispered back, surprising himself.  
  
Lily made a sound, kind of like, "Mmmnnnmmmm."  
  
"I have to go now," James said, even though she was asleep. "Keep my love. Always." He ran away.  
  
Fifteen minutes later Lily Evans woke up and smiled. She had the best dream ever. James kissed her and..ooh, she couldn't wait to talk to him tomorrow.  
  
* * *  
  
"Hello, Lily"  
  
"Oh, hi, Lucius. I'm sorry about your nose." Lily was trying to avoid Malfoy and was looking for her next classroom. Maybe she could corner James after class. "My nose is doing better. Still a little sore, though."  
  
He seemed to linger around Lily for some reason.  
  
"Well, it's been real, Lucius, but I have to get going."  
  
Malfoy's eyes fell to the ground, becoming twin pools of ice. "Oh. I see."  
  
"No, Lucius, it's nothing personal, I just-"  
  
"I understand. I understand only too well, Evans."  
  
"I don't think you do."  
  
"Oh, believe me, Evans, I have some idea of it." His eyes surveyed her for a moment. "You should have been mine," he said bitterly.  
  
""Excuse me? Are you refferring to me as property?" Or at least that was what she wanted to say. She only got up to, "Excuse-" before he took her in his arms and kissed her.  
  
James thought that things had changed. He thought that he and Lily were on the right foot. He was wrong. He stood and stared at his love, his Lily swapping spit with the enemy for as long as it took to regain the feeling in his legs. Then he ran.  
  
When Lucius pulled away, there was a lascivious sneer on his face. "See how your James feels about that." He walked away.  
  
Lily realized what he'd been doing and ran to him as fast as she could. "No no, you're not getting off the hook that easily!" She pulled out her wand. "Morgorphus!"  
  
A long blue spark flew out of her wand, and before anyone knew, it, Lucius Malfoy's lips had shriveled up into themselves, leaving him looking like a lipless zombie.  
  
"What did you do to me?!" he cried, only instead it came out :Raht it oo oo uh ee?!"  
  
A crowd had gathered around him, and people were snickering. Before Lily could be congratulated by a throng of Hogwarts students, she ran out of sight.  
  
She had reached the door of the Gryffindor boy's dormitory when she was stopped by Remus. "I'm sorry Lily. But James isn't feeling all that well right now. Given the circumstances."  
  
"Remus, you don't understand." Lily said hastily. "Malfoy tried to kiss me because he wanted to hurt James, I didn't want-"  
  
"Don't worry, Lily, I saw it too. I'm on your side. But James came when you two were already kissing. I tried to tell him what happened, but he won't listen."  
  
"Oh." Lily's heart sank into her ribcage. "Perfect timing, too. I wanted to tell him that I loved him, and now." One big tear slid down her cheek.  
  
"Oh, Lily. I really am sorry. I'll try to get to him when he's not so angry at you. But now there isn't anything I can do. You'd better go back to class."  
  
"I can't. I made Malfoy's lips shrivel up with my wand and they're probably commissioning the SWAT team by now."  
  
Remus grinned. "You used the old Morgorphus Spell? That's a good one." His face sobered up immediately. "But you shouldn't have done that. You broke about three rules with only one word."  
  
Lily tried to smile, but it was no use, She settled for tilting one corner of her mouth up. "Says the boy who sneaks through the castle every week."  
  
"Yeah well at least I don't get caught at it. You better go, I think I hear footsteps." Lily ran. 


	7. Lily goes insane Madame Pince tries to h...

*A/N:  
  
She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, but unfortunately she ran into a teacher, and that teacher was Proffesor McGonnagall.  
  
"Going somewhere, Miss Evans?" she asked wryly.  
  
"Professor, Malfoy tried to kiss me against my own will."  
  
"And he succeeded?"  
  
"Yes." Lily bowed her head. "Yes, he did."  
  
"You must understand that him kissing you is no excuse to do what you did. Miss Evans, what you have done is not amusing in the least- in fact, I believe you have broken five Hogwarts rules. But since I personally believe that you have been punished enough, I will not take away any points from Gryffindor. But you understand that I have to turn you in to the Head Master?"  
  
Her head still bowed, Lily nodded. "If Professor Dumbledore tells me to apologize, I won't do it." She said determinedly. "I'm not sorry, and I'd honestly rather get expelled than apologize to Malfoy."  
  
Professor McGonnagall nodded. "I don't think he expects you to apologize anyway. Come with me, Miss Evans."  
  
* * *  
  
Since Lily would not undo the spell, she was given a month's worth of detention, but no points were taken away from Gryffindor. And strangely, Lily liked detention. She did not enjoy her detention, but she liked suffering, after how she had treated James. I deserve it, after all, she thought. She in fact got so into it that she began to hum as she polished the trophies in the Trophy Room.  
  
"What are you so happy about?" Argus Filch snapped. "This is detention, not a blooming day at the zoo! You're supposed to be SUFFERING!" His eyes had popped out of his face and were red-rimmed, so Lily stopped humming and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I am suffering, honest." She put on a serious face. "See?"  
  
A few minutes later, she burst into laughter.  
  
"WHAT, MAY I ASK, IS SO FUNNY?" Filch yelled.  
  
"Nothing. I'm sorry, Mr. Filch."  
  
He shook his head. "You should be. You broke the law and are supposed to be feeling remorse for your crime. But if you aren't feeling guilty enough, I could always give you a harder punishment."  
  
Lily tightly closed her mouth, trying hard to control the waves of giggles she felt.  
  
Lily studied all day long, speaking to nobody, except occasionally Sirius and Remus, who tried to make her laugh. Finals were coming up, and Lily had stopped eating to study. She spent hours at the library, reading book by book by book, under the sharp watch of Madame Pince.  
  
One day, she heard someone's footsteps behind her in the library. Half- hoping it was James, Lily turned around. But it wasn't James (he still wasn't speaking to her). It was Madam Pince.  
  
"You must have read half of the library by now, dear." She said sadly.  
  
Lily blushed. "I've always loved books," she began, "but until recently I haven't had the time to indulge myself."  
  
Madam Pince sat next to Lily, her sharp look softening. "I remember the first time that you and Potter were here." She smiled. "You two were joined at the hip, practically linked together."  
  
Lily's face became pale again.  
  
"I could tell, then, that you two would be in love. It was a subtle message, but it was there. You have to have sharp eyes to see it."  
  
Madam Pince paused, looking at Lily pointedly. She sighed "Don't you see what I'm getting at here?"  
  
"Not really. Sorry." Lily added.  
  
"I'm trying to tell you something important here. You have to go with your instinct, with what you can see and hear and feel. When something seems wrong, but there's a glimmer of something in the air that might suggest otherwise, you have to go at it. That's all I'm going to say." Madam Pince winked, and went away.  
  
Lily stopped going to the library. 


End file.
